ziggurat motif situated within a brightly coloured mountainshape. By relating the figures in this way Beattie invites the
viewer to respond to the formal aspects of this image, but
also to construct a narrative around these elements. Some
generic connection between the two shapes seems implied. A
family resemblance is also suggested in which case a parentsibling relationship can be inferred. But which is the ‘parent’
shape: the larger half-ziggurat, or the smaller complete
form? Other interpretations are possible. The half-ziggurat
seems to contemplate its smaller counterpart and there is
a suggestion that the two are either physically remote or
separated in time. Family ties, separation, loss, longing,
memory - all these readings, and others, are generated by an
image rich in human implication.
Numerous other allusive abstractions inhabit Beattie’s
paintings. In particular he is fascinated by the way references
to man-made objects can act as vehicles for human values,
investing the drama of the painted surface with a profound
sense of human drama. Rectangular door-like spaces,
inviting or resisting entry, are a recurrent image. Often these
implied apertures offer glimpses of something intangible or
half-recognised: usually in a separate space and out of reach.
In Hinterland, scale, texture and colour are asserted to an
extreme degree. Confronting this work, the viewer is made
aware of the vast shapes, which define the central ‘door’ area.
At the same time the thick, warm coloured paint - clogging
the weave of the canvas, and stretched like a taut skin across
its surface - saturates the senses. The resulting sense of
claustrophobia is relieved only by the door motif, seen in
this context by Beattie as a kind of ‘lung’ offering visual and
psychological relief. The painting is a forceful demonstration
of the extent to which materials, process and imagery are all
essential and inseparable elements in his art. Acknowledging
this fact, he has stated: ‘I am not just creating an image, I am
constructing an experience’.
Beattie’s paintings represent his endeavour to give
tangible form to intangible experience - to make real and
communicable, that which is ephemeral and private. Halfapprehended memories and associations, fragments of
ideas, fleeting sensations and emotions - these are his source
material. His art identifies the process of painting with the
mining of this repository of existence. His method relies

on metaphor and a belief in the expressive capacity of the
gestural mark. By these means, subjective experiences are
made tangible but never entirely explicable. Compellingly
allusive and powerfully resonant, ultimately his work remains
enigmatic. In this respect Beattie has cited the importance
of Jung’s observation: ‘Only the paradox comes anywhere
near to comprehending the fullness of life. Non-ambiguity
and non-contradiction are one-sided and thus unsuitable to
express the incomprehensible.’